10 killed and 13 injured in minibus crash

ANOTHER gruesome taxi accident at midnight last Sunday saw 10 people killed and another 13 taken to hospital with serious injuries.

ANOTHER gruesome taxi accident at midnight last Sunday saw 10 people killed and another 13 taken to hospital with serious injuries.

Near Beaufort West, about 400km from Cape Town, the 10 were killed instantly when a taxi tried to overtake a bus and the driver lost control and crashed into it.

Ten other adults, including the driver of the 13-seater Toyota Quantum taxi, and three children were seriously injured.

Passenger Nombini Raba, travelling home to Cape Town after attending a funeral in the Eastern Cape, lost her brother in the accident and her two children aged 10 and two years old are in hospital with head injuries. The Grootboom family, also travelling home to Cape Town after a funeral, lost three family members in the crash.

Captain Malcolm Pojie said the taxi was overloaded with 19 occupants.

"We will just confiscate the taxis if we find them not to be roadworthy and give the owners heavy fines" he said.

"They should not be allowed on the road, no, not at all. We don't want to see any taxi that's not roadworthy on the roads."

l The AA says there are about 70000 taxi crashes a year. - Anna Majavu